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Articles from September 2017

Stock Photography Timeline: Updated

By Jim Pickerell | 149 Words | Posted 9/29/2017 | Comments
In July 2016 Alamy published an infographic with a timeline for the history of stock photography. They have just released an updated version with 10 new milestones based on comments they received from the public. You can find the updated timeline here.

Stock Photo Prices: The Future

By Jim Pickerell | 1277 Words | Posted 9/28/2017 | Comments (2)
This story is FREE. Feel free to pass it along to anyone interested in licensing their work as stock photography. On October 23rd at the DMLA 2017 Conference in New York there will be a panel discussion on Stock Photo Prices and whether there is anything that can be done to raise them -- even slightly. I will moderate the discussion.

Is The Customer Always Right?

By Jim Pickerell | 516 Words | Posted 9/27/2017 | Comments (2)
In a speech at PhotoPlus Expo in 1998 Jonathan Klein told the stock photography community, “We also know that the stock photography industry has not historically focused on the needs of customers and, frankly, needs to in order to SURVIVE!, That is where we are now.” Getty Images developed a strategy that was totally focuses on "the customer," but it hasn't necessarily worked out.

Google Slides Makes Finding Images Easier

By Jim Pickerell | 346 Words | Posted 9/27/2017 | Comments
Both Shutterstock and Adobe Stock have announced that users of Google Slides  can now access their collections directly. This could result in more image uses for photographers with images in both collections.

Adobe Names Santiago Lyon Editorial Content Director

By Jim Pickerell | 221 Words | Posted 9/26/2017 | Comments
Adobe has announced that Santiago Lyon has joined Adobe Stock as the first director of editorial content. In this newly created role, Santiago will lead Adobe Stock’s editorial content strategy and collection, working with world-class photojournalists, documentary photographers, editorial providers and media.

Restrictions On Retouching Photos Of People

By Jim Pickerell | 183 Words | Posted 9/26/2017 | Comments
Effective October 1, 2017 a new French law obliges clients who use commercial images in France to disclose whether the body shape of a model has been retouched to make the individual look thinner or larger.

Sales Trends At Getty

By Jim Pickerell | 1013 Words | Posted 9/22/2017 | Comments (1)
Contributors report that Getty Images believes there is still a demand for RM imagery. However, they are seeing fewer high quality submissions on a consistent basis, despite the fact that they have many more RM contributors than was once the case. The company is trying to encourage more production by posting increasingly frequent shoot briefs on the Getty contributor website.

Videoblocks Launches Storyblocks.

By Jim Pickerell | 657 Words | Posted 9/21/2017 | Comments
Videoblock has rebranded itself as Storyblocks. The existing video and audio libraries are being maintained as separate subsites: Videoblocks by Storyblocks and Audioblocks by Storybloacks. (Each offering requires a separate subscription.) The former GraphicStock library is now part of Storyblocks.

Shutterstock Introduces Shutterstock Custom

By Jim Pickerell | 248 Words | Posted 9/21/2017 | Comments
Shutterstock, Inc. has launched its Flashstock business as Shutterstock Custom, a proprietary platform that provides an efficient and innovative way for its 1.7 million customers to create branded content.

Shutterstock Plugin More Fully Integrate With Adobe Creative Cloud

By Jim Pickerell | 302 Words | Posted 9/20/2017 | Comments
Shutterstock, Inc. has updated its custom-built plugins to more fully integrate with Adobe’s Creative Cloud®, adding compatibility directly within the Adobe Premiere Pro®, Adobe Illustrator®, and Adobe InDesign® applications. This is the first time Shutterstock has made its high quality video collection of 8 million clips available through a plugin, giving amateur filmmakers and veteran film editors another powerful tool at their disposal within Premiere Pro®.

Why Would Customers Pay Higher Prices?

By Jim Pickerell | 930 Words | Posted 9/19/2017 | Comments
The big question for the industry is, “Why would customers agree to pay slightly higher prices?”
Everyone seems to believe that the only way to get, or keep, customers is to constantly give them lower and lower prices. I think there are a couple other things customers want: (1) better quality and (2) the ability to find what they need quickly. The industry is missing out on both these levels.

Raising Prices

By Jim Pickerell | 852 Words | Posted 9/19/2017 | Comments (1)
How much would we have to raise prices to begin improving the pricing situation? Not all that much. Many image creators would like to see the industry return to the much higher prices of old. While it is easy to justify those former prices based on the cost of production and the value the customer receives from using the image, a return to such prices is not likely to happen. On the other hand, if a strategy could be developed that would increase prices by just a small amount, it could begin to move the industry in the right direction.

Getty Cuts Royalties Again

By Jim Pickerell | 228 Words | Posted 9/19/2017 | Comments
According to sources Getty Images has reduced the royalty share of sales for all commercial RF collections supplied by agencies and distributors to 15% of the gross sale price.

Getty Custom Content

By Jim Pickerell | 975 Words | Posted 9/15/2017 | Comments (1)
Getty has sent its photographers a new Custom Content assignment for T-Mobile. “T-Mobile is looking for photography shot on mobile phones* that is the total opposite of stock images.” (*The images don’t actually have to shot with a mobile phone, and most of those submitted probably won’t be.)

Can Prices Be Raised?

By Jim Pickerell | 1139 Words | Posted 9/14/2017 | Comments (1)
In a little over a month I will be moderating a panel discussion at the DMLA 2017 Conference in New York on the subject Prices: Can We Raise Them? Stock photo prices have been declining for years, partially due to oversupply. Must prices continue to fall? Is there a strategy for charging more, to enough customers, that production of new images will become a viable business option for more producers? If so, how? What’s the strategy? If not, will that impact contributor supply? What alternatives are there for agencies to grow their business?”

Are Professional Stock Producers Needed?

By Jim Pickerell | 834 Words | Posted 9/13/2017 | Comments
A big question the stock photo industry is facing, and one I think very little effort has been expended in trying to analyze, is Are Professional Stock Producers Needed? Can the industry survive and grow with only images produced by part-timers and amateurs who are more interested in having their work “liked” than in earning enough to cover their production costs?

How Subscriptions Royalties Are Calculated

By Jim Pickerell | 666 Words | Posted 9/13/2017 | Comments
Some photographers are confused about how payments for subscription usage work. I received the following question recently: If say a customer pays $100 per month for the right to download 100 images, but only actually uses 20 images from the library during the month is the photographer royalty share based on 1/100th of what the library received, or does he get 1/20th of what the library received? The first works particularly well for Picture Libraries as they receive income for less work.

Alamy Appoints Andy Harding CEO

By Jim Pickerell | 300 Words | Posted 9/12/2017 | Comments (1)
Alamy has appointed Andy Harding to take over the role of Chief Executive Officer beginning on December 4th 2017. Co-founder and CEO James West is moving up to the role of Chair after 18 years as CEO.

ImageRights Simplifies Copyright Registration

By Jim Pickerell | 416 Words | Posted 9/12/2017 | Comments
ImageRights International, the global leader in copyright enforcement services for photo agencies and professional photographers has launched a dedicated copyright registration service. For the first time, any photographer or agency can register their images with the United States Copyright Office through ImageRights highly efficient and precise copyright service. Previously, only ImageRights members had access to the service.

Bridgeman Footage Joins Footage.net

By Jim Pickerell | 407 Words | Posted 9/12/2017 | Comments
Footage.net has announced that preview clips from Bridgeman Footage are now available for viewing through Footage.net. Bridgeman Footage is a division of Bridgeman Images, the world's leading specialist in the distribution of fine art, cultural and historical media for licensing. Bridgeman Images represents over 2,000 image suppliers - including museums, galleries, artists, stately homes, photographers, private collections, libraries, universities, auction houses and picture archives.

Court Permits Copyright Claim To Proceed Despite Error In Registration Application

By Jim Pickerell | 256 Words | Posted 9/8/2017 | Comments
The District Court of the Southern District of New York, in the case of Archie MD, Inc. v. Elsevier, Inc., recently clarified the standard by which a copyright registration may be considered valid despite containing inaccurate information.

Stock Agencies Focus On Custom Shoots

By Jim Pickerell | 1756 Words | Posted 9/8/2017 | Comments
Since 2012 ImageBrief has been helping image buyers submit briefs to photographers about their image needs. Now Shutterstock and Getty Images seem to be getting interested in offering their customers custom shoots. In June Shutterstock acquired Flashstock and in early July Getty introduced its Custom Content assignments program to Getty Images and iStock Exclusive contributors.

Wining Photo Contests

By Jim Pickerell | 154 Words | Posted 9/7/2017 | Comments
It is no longer necessary to take pictures in order to win photo contest. Photographers who share their images on public domain sites are sometimes surprised to learn that others have taken their images, entered them in photo contests and won awards.

What Kind Of Images Are In Demand?

By Jim Pickerell | 939 Words | Posted 9/5/2017 | Comments
What kind of pictures do companies really want for their ads? What are they actually buying? In this story we'll look at some ways to get more of what customers want to buy into the images collections. And, maybe less of the images that just sit there and no one ever want to use them.

Hootsuite Collaborates With Adobe Stock

By Jim Pickerell | 400 Words | Posted 9/5/2017 | Comments
Hootsuite has announced a collaboration with Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Stock that will give its customers the ability to access, edit, distribute, and measure the impact of social content directly from Hootsuite, thus helping marketers get more value from their creative content.

Keywording: New Shutterstock Resource

By Jim Pickerell | 789 Words | Posted 9/1/2017 | Comments
Shutterstock has produced a new resource called The Shot List that may be helpful to anyone trying to keyword images. It includes some very broad general guidelines on the kind of imagery customers are looking for when searching for: Landmarks, People, Interiors and Religion and Holidays.

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This stock photography news site focuses on the business side of photography with a special emphasis on stock photography. Our goal is to help photographers maximize their earnings based on the quality of their work and the commitment they are prepared to make to the trade. The information provided will be applicable to part-timers as well as full time professional photographers. We’ll leave it to others to teach photographers how to take better pictures.

Jim Pickerell launched his career as a photographer in 1963. In 1990 he began publishing a regular newsletter on stock photography. In 1995 the information was made available online as well as in print and was gradually expanded to a daily service. Click here for Pickerell's full biography.

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